Shane King: A Half life story
by The Half life 2 guy
Summary: Hey faithful readers! Shanes back! read the new chapter about Shanes past, or new comers read from the beginning of this riveting tale of survival
1. Chapter 1

It was a beautiful day over the coast of Virginia as Shane King a local fisherman was out on one of his daily fishing trips, little known to him something was about to go terribly terribly wrong. As Shane cast off of the dock his modest size fishing boat _The Lucette_ rocked gently in the small waves, "what a great day for fishing!" Shane said happily as he expertly steered his boat down the river. As he sailed down the river he saw that many people were preparing to cast off for a day of fishing as well, but why not on such a beautiful day he thought. As he reached the mouth of the river the waves were very choppy and the boat was rocked slightly as all the boats departed, waiting in line for his turn Shane walked down below deck.

He fixed himself a meal while down below a ham cheese and bologna sandwich, little did he know this would be his last decent meal for a long time to come. As Shane walked up munching on his sandwich he heard over the radio a conversation between two fellow fisherman " Yeah, so I gotta head back to port I guess." said one man " yeah, that sucks dude the weather is so good out here." replied the other "yeah the wife says she saw a green flash of light then heard strange noises so shes scared but hey what are you gonna do?" said the first sarcastically. "a flash of green light, thats odd" thought Shane but when he looked down to check his bearings as he left the mouth of the river he realized his GPS was malfunctioning. "what the... Dammit!" he cried. As he left the river and entered the ocean he had decided to turn back when suddenly a cry over the radio "ATTENTION ALL FISHERMEN TOURESTS ETC. THIS IS THE UNITED STATES COAST GUARD THE COUNTRY IS UNDER ATTACK EVERYONE IS TO GET TO A SAFE LOCATION ASAP!"

"oh my god!" cried Shane his mouth now gaping at the unbelievable news as all the other fisherman cried back over the radio with things like "WHAT!?!?" and "BY WHO!?" Shane made a hard turn around and was about to gun the motor when he saw 4 air force jets fly overhead in perfect formation. As the jets flew over the city Shane saw a massive cloud gathering over the dead middle of the city " what the hell a hurricane?!" he cried, but then a glimmer of blue from the center which grew wider and wider until a massive bolt flew down and hit the earth a huge explosion rippled the area, skyscrapers fell buildings completely evaporated. Shane was speechless he merely stood with his mouth gaping at the destruction before him. The blue opening grew wider and wider until something began to emerge from it... "wha...a...a...tower?!" he stuttered he was in such shock he had been ignoring the panicked calls for help on the radio as people on shore tuned into the frequencies. In all the commotion suddenly Shane had noticed a green flash of light from near the boat and a huge odd looking tadpole like creature stared out of the water but then opened its massive jaws revealing gigantic razor sharp teeth! " oh !!" cried Shane his first reaction was to run below deck and grab his colt 45. revolver from his footlocker. He ran above deck and fired a shot directly down into the creatures head it let out a massive roar and took a massive chunk from _The Lucette's_ hull. "NOOO!!!" Shane yelled as he fired one, two, three more shots at the creature which finally groaned and died belly up in the water.

Shane rushed to the side of the boat to examine the damage. As he bent over he saw that the fiberglass covering was completely shredded and _The Lucette's _valiant hull was now decorated by a gaping hole. "Agh shes taking on water fast!" mumbled Shane as he rushed to the steering wheel, he gunned the motor back up the river all the time watching the massive contraption slowly lower itself onto the ground. By the time he had reached the shore _The Lucette_ Was almost ¾ under water. Shane rushed down and grabbed some extra bullets from his locker and reloaded his gun, Somehow he knew he would need every shot.

Back at the port people were panicked as they ran back and forth Shane saw several dead bodies which he had no time to identify. Somehow he knew he had to get away from the city, right now. He took a quick look back at the tower now nearly touched down and he saw several sorts of ships emerging from the portal and he saw the air force jets from earlier go to meet them Shane stopped to watch the battle. "surely our high tech jets can beat those clumsy looking things." he thought. The jets as they approached broke formation and the sort of helicopter whale things rose up and down with dexterity and grace the jets by the time they could get into range of the craft were outmaneuvered. A jet reduced to a very slow speed to attempt a shot at one of the ships but it expertly dodged the Jet circled around and fired several odd looking tracer rounds which nailed the jet in the engine which in turn exploded into a mass of fire "No way" said Shane. The three other jets obviously as surprised as Shane was attempted many variates of strategies and maneuvers... all in vain but then one pilot managed to get behind one of the craft and fired a missile which destroyed the ship in an instant but three more emerged from the portal to take its place...it seemed their was nothing we could do to stop them. As Shane watched the battle he was completely oblivious to the flash of green light behind him he was awakened from his odd doze as he heard a cry of " merl'nach!" he werled around to see an extremely odd looking green creature with two arms three fingers each and a smaller hand coming out of its chest its neck protruded forward and had one large red eye and it was gathering a sort of green lightening which he launched at Shane who jumped out of the way. As Shane looked behind him the lightening found its way to a young woman who screamed as the green lightening riped her apart and she died instantly. Shane thought he'd be sick as he wiped out his colt 45. and fire two shots at the creature who dodged one but was taken in the arm by the other Shane ran and took cover behind a wall as the creature fired a second green bolt at the wall which exploded losing several bricks and had plaster splintered everywhere. He rolled out from his cover and shot another bullet at it which hit its eye directly and killed it instantly. "What the hell is going on?!" He wondered staring at the dead creature in front of him he made a dash for his car and hoped in turned the key but nothing happened at that moment he looked up to see a different kind of ship that was carrying a sort of crate that opened and out emerged several odd looking soldiers which wielded a different kind of gun and they began firing randomly into the crowd. "SHIT!!!!!!" cried Shane as a tracer broke his window, he reloaded his gun and fire killing one of the soldiers. The others immediately turned on him charging his car, Shane fired killing 1, 2 ,3 more but they kept coming! " NOOOOO!!!!!" Shane cried right as the soldier hit him with the butt of his rifle and knocked him unconscious. Shane thought of his family as he fell into a pit of blackness and sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Shane awoke to a loud explosion and much rumbling from all around him. "wha...where am I?..." Shane groaned as he tried to move. But he couldn't Shane was restrained by something, or someone. He opened his eyes but could see nothing but darkness. Another explosion, "HELP SOMEONE GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!" he screamed as he started to panic. "relax your going to be okay!" an unknown voice called, Shane heard scratching and bangs as small bits of light crept into his confined prison. The pod unsealed he now heard gunshots and screams of desperation as a tall dark skinned man attempted to pry open the metal bindings around his body with a crowbar. Shane examined his surroundings, three people including the man attempting to free him, a woman of middle age and a younger boy about 18 or 19, all were armed and firing around corners desperately at the an enemy unknown to Shane As the man finished freeing Shane the man shouted "COMEON ITS NOT SAFE HERE ILL EXPLAIN MORE IN A BIT!!" while Shane struggled to regain his composure the man handed Shane a 9mm pistol and several clips to go with it and beckoned him to follow.

As the newly formed chalk of every day people turned soldiers ran down the street to safety (or at least thats what Shane hoped) they heard the loud noise of battle going on all around. Caught in the daze of the city he knew now a ruined battlefield Shane failed to notice what his companions had already begun to run from. "STRIDER!!!!" the woman shouted Shane turned his head now to see a gigantic yellow-brownish monster with three legs with razor sharp spikes on the bottom and what appeared to be a giant cannon strapped to its bug like head. As the creature turned its head it roared with a loud sound that was a mix of grinding machines and a dieing seal. Shane stood in awe of the creature as it lowered itself down its gun began to glow sucking in energy one of his new companions,the teenage boy jumped in grabbed him and threw him to the side just as the strider shot its massive energy beam right next to them the boy flew threw the air and hit a wall crashing down with a thud. The woman made a move to run to him but the tall dark man stopped him "HES GONE WE HAVE TO KEEP MOVEING!!" with that the trio left their young teenage companion behind and ran into the nearby open apartment.

As they got inside they walked down a pathway to a dead end, or so it appeared. The man opened a nearby electrical box and hit a combination of buttons in a pattern and the wall slid aside. "oh my...god." said Shane as the wall slid apart revealing an entire underground bunker filled with other people of all ages sizes and races crowded together in a small area. The three walked inside and the tall man beckoned Shane to sit next to him on a couch in the corner as the woman walked away to mourn the death of the teen. "My name is Zach, I apologize for not properly introducing myself before but... you understand, right?" "Yeah" replied Shane "but I have a couple of questions...first of all how long since this all started." Zach scratched his head "oh well at least a few months now I'd say." "MONTHS!?!" Shane screamed as he thought back to just a phew hours ago when he was on his boat... "Yes months but its hard to tell since the damned combine cut off most of our access to power." "hmmm" Shane said as he suddenly realized they were all going by candlelight. "what the hell is going on second of all who are these attackers what is that giant tower and how was I in that...that thing for months!" Zach looked around as he absorbed all Shane's questions. "Well first off these people we are fighting ar'nt people, they're aliens called the combine from another dimension, The soldiers we were fighting are synthesized using human DNA and they're technology, all the other things: the strider's gunships etc. are also synthetic versions of other races they have conquered." Shane leaned back and rubbed his head taking in the new knowledge hardly believing what he was hearing. "Secondly, that giant tower you spoke of was the citadel, its the combines base of operations that was sent threw their portal, it houses all their troops supplies technology basically everything they need." a child walked up to them with a tray that had water and bread on it,Shane hadn't realized how hungry he was and eagerly gobbled it down and drank the water. Zach munched the bread slowly "And finally, you were in a pod inside of a combine human storage facility, we ar'nt sure what they do to you in their but they keep captured rebellious humans inside of them and then perform odd experiments on them, you don't remember the past few months because you were in hibernation." Zach finished his piece of bread and drank his water and said to him "This must be hard for you to accept but...the earth no longer belongs to us and it will never be the same ever again, now rest up we have a lot of work for you to do.

A man about Shane's age walked up to him "Hi! My name is Justin, so you new here?" he said with a smile. "Yeah...they just saved me from one of them pod things" Shane replied "My names Shane , Shane King by the way." he added "Nice to meet you Shane" Justin said as they shook hands "Here ill take you to an open bunk you can use, poor chap kicked the bucket out on a mission" Justin said with a frown as he lead Shane to a bed near the back Shane cringed at the thought that the man who's bed he was taking was the young boy who saved his life. "Holler if you need anything!" Justin said with a wave as he walked off. "Yeah...i will thanks." said Shane as he laid down on the bed contemplating his new life and prepared himself for the hardships of the next day.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

As Shane awoke he heard many people talking and bustling about in the base, for a moment he had forgotten where he was. He imagined himself back at home and expected to wake up next to his wife just like every morning and walk into the kitchen to have some tea and scones... But that life was gone now he was trapped in this post apocalyptic world full of aliens that wanted each and every one of them dead. "Hey! Shane get up! Somethins happening!" a familiar voice called to him. Shane sat up in his bunk and rubbed his eyes "Justin?... whats going on?" Shane asked sleepily. "Leads got somethin important to say" Justin replied offering a hand to help him get up. "Thanks" Shane said as he stretched his and yawned lazily "Who's this leader fellow now?" Shane asked half threw his yawn. "Why Zach of course." Justin said beckoning him to the far corner of the bunker. As they walked with the others that took shelter in the bunker Shane spotted Zach standing on several boxes preparing to speak. "Ok everyone listen up!" he called and everyone immediately silenced. "We finally got a communication from someone of authority, his name is Dr. Eisenburg hes a scientist from black mesa." With that phrase everyone in the area began muttering to one another about this black mesa place, Shane wondered what black mesa was obviously it was of some importance. Noticing Shane's confusion Justin said "The black mesa research facility is what caused all this mess, they opened portals to the other dimension by accident and now most of the survivors from there are resistance leaders." "Ah, I see" said Shane passively. "He has informed us that they have set up a formal resistance headquarters and that we are all to relocate there immediately." "Ah thank god we are finally getting out of this dump!" Justin said happily. Shane heard several sighs of relief mixed with several groans. "ok, ok!" Zach said trying to keep the crowd under control "We will go in 5 groups each will leave a day apart from each other ill choose a leader for each group." With this Shane looked around, there were about 36 of them, so each group would consist of 7 or 8 people. "I'm with you man." Justin said to him immediately. " yeah but we should probably get a balanced group together, you know." he said surveying the crowd. "Yeah, sounds like a plan ill go pack both our stuff, you find some people for us to go with." he said as he turned to run back to their bunks.

"hmmmm, who to pick?" Shane said walking around, and thats when he spotted their next member. He carried a rocket launcher slung over his shoulder and Shane knew right away they would need a rocket man. "Hey! Hey you!" Shane called trying to get his attention. "oh, hey" he said with a faint smile. Shane finally got a good look at him he was a sturdy built man about 28 to 32 with messy black hair that came down to his shoulders. "you got a group yet?" Shane asked eagerly "I'm getting one together." "no, not yet I'd be happy to join you, meet by the storage area in an hour?" he said pointing to a corner full of ammunition boxes guns and food. "Yeah sounds good, see you there." Shane said waving to their new group member.

As the hour ticked on Shane gathered together an entourage of 7 including him and Justin. Shane examined his fellow fighters that he had gathered. The black haired man with the rocket launcher, Shane had later found out his name was Mark, A younger woman wearing a medic sleeve wielding a sub machine gun named Jamie, A teenage boy with fierce eyes and a shotgun named Ken, a man about Shane's age with puffy curly hair named Scott, he had an AR2 rifle (Justin had informed him about the commonly used weapons and equipt him with a SMG of his own.) and lastly a woman in her mid thirties that carried a pistol along with spare ammo for the rest of the team, her name was Chrissy. At that moment Zach walked over to us to pick our team leader. As he examined the crowd closely he asked us all "So, who thinks they should be the team leader." At that moment Scott found it appropriate to chime in "Well, I for one think Shane should lead, hes the one that gathered us all up." Shane sighed, he didn't really mind leading but after thinking about it he recalled a S.W.A.T team lead training video his cousin who was a cop had shown him awhile back "hm I may be able to do this yet." Shane thought to himself. After several agreements from various other team members Zach appointed Shane group leader. "Congratulations bud" Justin said with a pat on the back. " thanks Justin" Shane replied "You guys wait here ill go see what day were leaving." Shane added as he walked off toward Zach. Several other group leaders where already gathered there. "Ah Shane." Zach said spotting him "good, good come here I was about to call you." Zach Continued beckoning him over. They waited a few more minutes and then all group leaders were present. " ok good everyones here." Zach said examining the crowd before him "Ok John your group Alpha you leave in 2 hours." Zach said to a middle aged man to his right. "right o" he replied happily. Shane dazed off into a light doze as Zach read off 2 of the other teams assignments. "Shane, your group delta you leave tomorrow morning 8:00 sharp!" Zach said casually as Shane snapped out of hid doze. "And ill be heading team echo that will head out last at 10:00 15 minutes after we leave pre-planted explosives will detonate destroying the base, now heres a map with directions on it I trust youll brief your teams well, now go!" he ended pointing forward and walked off to inform his team of the situation. Shane told everyone what was happening and what their role was and appointed Justin the navigator and gave him the map. "ok everyone rest up we have to be up bright and early tomorrow!" he said jubilantly. And with that everyone returned to their bunks for a nights sleep as Shane watched team alpha depart from the base. Shane set his head on the pillow and closed his eyes for the last night in their small cavern of safety.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Yo! Wake up!!!" cried a familiar voice,as Shane slowly rose he heard Do DOO do dooo "what the hell a ventrilo server?!(Shane King: A half life story is sponsored by ventrilo! GET VENTRILO TODAY!!!!! and um, completely disregard the do do doo part, anyway back to the story) As Shane slowly rose he rubbed his eyes and said "Time to go already?..." now he recognized the voice, it was Scott. Shane rose up and got dressed and packed up, as he checked the clip on his SMG Scott told him "Were all meeting by the entrance in 5 minutes, ill meet you over there" "ok" Replied Shane as he finished tieing his boots. He took one last look at his short term sanctuary and walked off toward the entrance as he approached Ken was cleaning off his rifle with a rag and Justin and Scott were in a fierce discussion about beans " No way! Baked is so much better than fried!!" Scott yelled pointing his finger at Justin's nose " NO WAY! You cant beat the crunchy taste of the fried beans bro!" Shane chuckled at the conversation as Chrissy and Jamie came walking up from behind muttering something to each other about the last time they bathed, and 6 minutes later Mark came running up panting something about trouble fitting all the rockets in his pack for his RPG. "Ok team! Ready to haul out?" said Shane as everyone gathered up in front of him " ready!!" screamed everyone enthusiastically, Zach came up behind Shane "Good luck my friend ill see you at the base, you went over the map right?" he asked patting him on the back once "Yeah I got it all set head due southwest out of town till I reach the outskirts then head north." he said in an assuring voice "ok then good luck and Godspeed!" said Zach signaling a guard to open the door. "so long!" he said as he and the rest of his team jogged out into the light. All looked quite when they emerged, The sun had about risen to its full light and using it Shane located what direction southwest was and they moved out Shane Ken and Justin on one side of the street and the rest on the other moving from cover to cover watching out for any combine that might be lurking about.

"Guy about a football field away to our right, I don't think he saw us" mumbled Ken to Shane under his breath. Shane raised a hand to have his team on the other side stop and they all did looking at him eagerly for and order to fire or to run. Shane examined the area Ken described and sure enough there was a combine solder roughly 80 yards away scanning the area. "alright" he whispered to Justin and Ken "we are gonna run to the other side of the street and try to head up that ally way over there" he said pointing to a small opening between two buildings up ahead "move one at a time" he said signaling Justin to go first. Justin ran across to safety with the others and quickly began explaining what is happening to the others Shane stepped out to go second across the street when a bullet immediately hit the ground in front of him "SHIT!" he yelled as the others advanced quickly behind Justin toward the ally way "They think theres only one of us...go! Ill hold them off" said Ken as he pumped his shotgun " are you sure?!..." yelled Shane over the gunfire, as he heard a distant drop ship approaching quick "JUST GO!" he yelled and Shane dashed across the street to the alleyway and met up with the others he heard Ken screaming " COMON YOU MUTHERFS, COME AND GET ME!!!" and Shotgun blasts echoing as mechanical screaming of combine was faintly heard as they ran up the alleyway Shane was about to round a corner when he looked back and saw Ken take a bullet directly to the chest and slump down against the tree, clearly dead. But it wasn't over yet Shane yelled to the others " quick quick! Across the street to the next alleyway!" and they obeyed instantly, the combine thought Ken was solo, or that was the hope anyway. They dashed threw the streets ally to ally when they took a breather behind a dumpster in about the 8th or so ally thy got to. "wheres Ken?" asked Chrissy out of breath. "well, he was killed holding off the combine" Shane said going from a regular voice to a mumble and staring at the ground. "ah, man..." said Justin shaking his head then turning away from the others sharply. And they all bowed their heads in remembrance of their fallen comrade. "ok guys its a tragic loss but we have to keep moving, breaks over lets go" Shane said enthusiastically trying to pull his team out of the slump. "alright" said Scott picking up his gun and the rest moved to follow and they made there way out of the ally. For several more hours they trudged through the streets until they reached out outskirts, but this was a walled city and their were guards at the entrance. "How the hell are we supposed to get threw that?!" said Scott, as if there was another way... "lets rest for a bit and think of a plan" said Shane slumping against a wall. They rested for about 15 minutes when suddenly they heard footsteps coming up the ally they had come from. In an instant they were all up and at arms when Zach came running up the ally gripping a bloody shoulder. "Zach!?" said Shane louder than intended Jamie immediately pulled out her medic kit and began working on Zach's shoulder as he told his tale. "I don't know how but the combine must have known we were coming... everyones dead but me...". He ended as Shane shuddered, the combine killed Zach's group looking for them...

"Ok", Zach said as Jamie finished bandaging his arm " I think im good now" "just take it easy, ok?" she said stepping back faceting toward the guard post. "Ok I think we need to fight our way out of the city walls..." said Shane "Are you crazy?!" said Justin "no" Shane replied "but I really see no option we take out the guards and make a break into the forest they'll never find us." he finished with a determined look at the wall in front of them. "ok fine, but if we die, I blame you!" he said comically as the rest nodded in agreement to Shane's plan "ok heres what we do..." Shane said as he began to show them his plan on a wall.

The sound of an RPG fire echoed into the sky as it was followed by an explosion on the wall and several soldiers flew into the air, dead. A hail of gunfire erupted at the wall as Chrissy Zach and Scott made a run for a small gap in the wall. "Covering fire!" yelled Justin standing on a dumpster unloading his SMG onto the section of wall the combine were rushing to. Shane made sure that everyone was safely at their positions when he gave Mark the second signal. He fire one rocket and another and another into a small space not too far from the gap Chrissy Zach and Scott were in until it made a hole in the wall Shane fired around a corner dropping a combine soldier Scott and Zach rounded the corner out the hole in the wall and dashed into the woods Shane made a run for the gap where Chrissy was and felt a sharp pain the the leg and stumbled for a moment but kept running when he got their he crouched around the corner aiming carefully and dropping two more combine then reloaded "MARK JUSTIN JAMIE, GO ILL COVER YOU!" he shouted across to the others as he turned the corner firing rapidly at the wall as more and more combine ran towards them, the sound of drop ships echoed faintly and grew louder with every second "we have to go now!" he yelled and made a gesture toward the hole and they all round threw Justin turned and dropped one more combine with a well aimed shot before they all disappeared into the darkness.

It wasn't long before they met up with Scott and Zach who were resting up under a tree not far from the battle, Zach's wound had opened up again and he was bleeding bad, Scott appeared to have broken his hand somehow, everyone had been wounded bad somewhere except for Mark who had several scrapes and bruises. Shane examined his own wound, it appeared to be a shotgun shell that had blown threw his calf. "ah! F" he yelled as the pain caught up to him. "lemme patch that up said" Said Jamie as she finished bandaging a spot on her arm a bullet had grazed fairly deep. After they all were semi-patched up they advanced about a half hour more into the woods until they found a cave, "Ok, lets rest here for the night" said Shane dropping his pack onto the ground and rolling out his thin blanket. "oh man im exhausted" said Justin throwing off his shoes. After a small meal of bread they all laid down for a few hours rest. Shane closed his eyes and silently said a prayer, both for the fallen and for better luck on his second day as leader.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Shane blinked awake, at first unaware of his surroundings. Remembering the past days many events he came the harsh realization of where he was, in the forest, in the middle of nowhere. Most likely with the combine hot on their trail. As he went to stand up he had to bite his lip to the point of screaming to avoid the sudden pain, he had forgotten the wound in his leg. It was stiff from the rest that night. As he managed to get the blood flowing to his leg again he stood up fairly easy now ready for the pain with each step. He looked around at the birds now flying away, realizing something was approaching, he wished he could be a bird. Fly away from all this bloodshed somewhere far from that damned forest clearing.

Bringing himself back to reality Shane looked at his team, all still asleep probably exhausted from the mad dash from the city. He didn't want to wake them but they could not stay in that spot for much longer, the combine were on the hunt. After much thought Shane decided to wake Justin up first and make him awake the rest of the group as to not deal with the complaining. "Justin!...Justin! Wake up!" whispered Shane shaking his friend vigorously. "wha! Wha? No ma I want fried, FRIED!!! beans!" replied Justin sleepily. Shane had a good laugh remembering the argument with Scott the other day before finally awaking Justin. "Alright! Fine ill wake them all up, but they wont be happy." said Justin frowning. "Thats the point" Shane replied with a grin. Justin groaned before waking up the others. Only Zach didn't complain still displaying the same resolute aura of a leader. "He should be leading us, not me!" thought Shane in his head, but Zach chose him to keep leading and their must have been a reason, somehow.

After a hasty breakfast of...you guessed it, Baked beans in a can(much to Justin's discomfort). They set off, "Zach, How long would you say we have until reaching the base?" Asked Scott about 15 minutes into their march. "Well, at this pace about another day's walk till the mountains then about 3 hours along a slightly marked trail." Said Zach rubbing his wounded shoulder. Chrissy groaned at the thought of another whole day of walking. "Don't worry" Said Zach "I ordered the first team to set up a permanent checkpoint at an abandoned barn we should reach by the end of the day, we can stay there." Shane looked up at the position of the sun and estimated it to be about 9 o'clock in the morning, a long day of travel was ahead only prolonged by his throbbing leg. With the thought of an actual shelter to stay in that night the group seemed a little bit more cheerful than before. "so" Justin began biting into an apple he had managed to pick from a tree "whats your story? How did you end up here" he finished with a full mouth. "well" Shane began "thats a long one" Shane sighed thinking about what had happened to his family and friends.

"It all started when...(COOL A FLASHBACK!) I was planning a fishing trip for myself, you see I'm quite the fisherman I am. And on my last day at home my son was going to be in a play, he was so excited he told me all about it. I was going to go see him that night after a nice trip out on the ocean. The wife was going to make pot roast too oh so good... Anyway out on the ocean I got word of the attacks and strange flashes of light so I came back to shore and my boat was attacked, it sank. When I got onto land I was attacked by these "Combine" and I tried to fight them off but they captured me, the next thing I knew I was being rescued by Zach over there." Shane ended his tale with a sigh and before Justin could say anything he drifted to the other side of the group. Scott was busy expressing his jealousy of him being unhurt to Mark who merely replied with a smirk and barely half of his attention. He was an absent minded man only concerned with the beauty of nature around him.

After a good days walk, they finally reached the barn Zach had told them of. There were no obvious signs of life inside, but that was to be expected. As they approached Zach knocked on the door. Its me! Open up! With no reply Jamie smartly suggested that they leave and Shane agreed. But Zach argued that they must have moved on and could have left them supplies. Scott kicked down the door and screamed as a small round ball burst into a ball of lightening that shot right into him knocking him a good 15 feet back. "NOO!!" screamed Zach quickly ripping the pin from a grenade and throwing it into the doorway followed by him slamming the door shut. A loud bang erupted from the door shattering a nearby window which covered mark with glass shards scraping his face and torso, "MY EYE!!!!" he screamed gripping his face, but it wasn't over yet a loud cry was heard and everyone in the group excluding Shane grew wide eyed. "HUNTERS!!!!" screamed Justin "everyone inside! NOW!" Zach yelled hustling everyone inside. But Shane went back dragging Scott into the house with him. Jamie put two fingers to Scotts neck and looked away "hes dead" she said with a grim face. "no time called Chrissy pointing to the three legged blue creatures charging toward the house. "What the hell are they!?" screamed Shane horrified at their coordination and speed. "hunters" mumbled Justin "the combines best scouts" he finished preparing his gun for the worst. Shane went to ask another question when the creature bent down and fired 4 objects from a gun on its underside. "GET DOWN!" cried Zach ripping Shane to the floor. The Nodes flew in and stabbed a point on the roof viciously and began to whine. Suddenly they exploded spraying small bits of shrapnel everywhere when another set of them burst threw the window opposite to them. "Dear god!!!!" cried mark attempting to wipe the blood from his face. Shane rose up firing a full clip from his smg at the hunter which expertly dodged most of the bullets. Shane took cover examining his surroundings. Noticing now the dead bodies of group ones team "I got this" said Justin picking up an AR2 from a dead rebel. A hunter charged the house, clearly with the force to smash right threw the wall. Justin aimed carefully and screamed a curse at the hunter firing a shinning yellow orb from the gun which hit the Hunter with a bang turning the hunter into a mere group of ash floating in the breeze. Shane grabbed his own AR2 examining the now obvious handle on the gun, he took aim now at his own hunter and pulled it. The gun charged and fired with a vicious kickback, nearly knocking Shane off his feet. It too destroyed the hunter, 2 to go. Shane turned seeing Jamie and Chrissy unloading their weapons out a window which then exploded collapsing the wall knocking out both of them as they're limp bodies slid across the floor mark managed to raise his rpg firing it directly behind the hunter launching its now corpse into the room on top of Justin and Shane knocking them over like a bowling ball.

As Shane struggled to get the Body of the hunter off of them Zach fired his smg at the final hunter which fired a group of nodes at Zach as he charged he tried to jump out of the way but one node his him in the leg, he cried out in Pain as his leg began to turn black and cause him to disappear. "ZACH! NO NOT YOU!" cried Mark unloading an smg into the hunter finishing it off. Justin and Shane managed to push the hunters body off of them and they ran to Zach's side. Zach managed to say little between coughs but only talked to Shane "Shane...I don't have long...I...I'm sorry for getting you into this..."with that the blackness consumed Zach's entire body and he disappeared into which energy disks. All were speechless as Chrissy and Jamie managed to regain their footing realizing what happened. After a long silence only Shane managed to talk "Lets go, the combine are sending reinforcements." he walked out without waiting for a reply, they moved hastily to the forest until finding a good spot to set up camp for the night


End file.
